Thursday, April 2, 2015

Bengaluru-Puducherry flights from April 14

Resumption of air connectivity sets off expectations of industrial, tourist development

The government has proposed to extend the runway by an additional 1,100 metres by acquiring the land in neighbouring Tamil Nadu

The resumption of the much awaited air connectivity to Puducherry which has been on and off the aviation map intermittently, is expected to increase the tourist footfalls to the city.

Though commercial flight services in Puducherry started with a bang, within a short period of time it had become defunct. This has been the recurring scenario in Puducherry.

After Vayudoot stopped commercial services from the airport in 1991, the Puducherry government made unsuccessful attempts to revive flight operations from Puducherry. Private carrier Spice Jet, which introduced its flight service on the Puducherry-Bengaluru sector on January 2013, discontinued its services in February 2014 stating that their operations were not financially viable.

I Syed Sajjadh Ali, Chairman, CII, Puducherry, welcomed the proposed resumption of air connectivity from Puducherry to Bengaluru as a welcome step.

“Keeping in view the rapid industrialisation and promotion of IT-related activities, the revival of air connectivity would be of great help to industries and will certainly improve tourism. We have lots of traffic between Puducherry and Bengaluru. There may be some hiccups. But businessmen and international travellers can have multiple options instead of going to Chennai. Even people who want to go to France can get a connecting flight to Bengaluru,” Mr. Sajjadh Ali said.

More than the tourism sector the industries can also align with the air connectivity and grow with it. Hopping flights to connect Puducherry with other parts of the country would be viable and people can also avoid road travel, he said.

According to a Tourism Department official, there is a general perception among the people that air connectivity from the Puducherry airport is not viable.

Though there might be some initial hiccups the project would definitely become feasible over a period of time.

Originally, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 2007 with the AAI for developing the airport in two phases to operate ATR type aircrafts.

After completion of first phase expansion of runway work and terminal building, SpiceJet Airlines started operation of its Bombardier aircraft from January 2013 and stopped the operation in February 2014.

The territorial administration had persuaded the Tamil Nadu government to make available the required land in Vanur in Villupuram district to make the airport functional.

Thorough scrutiny:Tourism Minister P. Rajavelu and officials from the Air Ports Authority of India take a look at the facilities at the Puducherry Airport on Wednesday. —Photo: T.Singaravelou

Tourism Minister P. Rajavelu along with officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Wednesday inspected the infrastructural facilities at the Puducherry Airport ahead of resumption of flight services from Bengaluru to Puducherry from April 14.

Mr. Rajavelu accompanied by R. Venkatachalapathy, Airport Director, visited the terminal building and studied the logistics and other requirements. He discussed with officials about the feasibility of expansion of the runway and creating other required infrastructure in the Airport.

Later speaking to reporters, Mr. Rajavelu said that Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India had agreed to operate flights on the Bengaluru-Puducherry sector on all days except Wednesdays. The Puducherry government was hoping to get the operator to start their services during morning hours also. The government was holding talks with the operator, he said.

The Puducherry government will be setting up two counters in the Airport. The first counter would provide logistical assistance as well as act as an information centre and help desk for tourists while the second would be a food counter for tourists, he said. Secretary to Tourism R. Mihir Vardhan was also present.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Compiled by

Disclaimer

Collection of important and burning Topics, News from all Dailies, Fortnight Magazines, etc., in order to highlight its importance to the viewers and also to keep it as ready reckoner by them so as to access it quickly from the concerned Sources which we quote them at the bottom of each Posts so as to extend our gratitude towards the Author of that Posts in their releases.